📚 Methodology & Scoring Framework
The overall desirability score is computed as a weighted composite of five normalized dimension scores
using min-max scaling methodology to ensure comparability across metrics.
25%
💰
Income Score
Min-max normalized median household income (S1901_C01_012E).
Higher income receives higher scores, reflecting economic prosperity and purchasing power.
25%
🎓
Education Score
Percentage of population aged 25+ with bachelor's degree or higher (S1501_C02_015E).
Reflects human capital and educational attainment levels.
20%
💼
Employment Score
Inverse normalized unemployment rate for population 16+ in labor force (S2301_C04_001E).
Lower unemployment equals higher score.
20%
🏠
Housing Affordability Score
Inverse of rent burden - percentage of renter households paying ≥35% of income on rent (DP04_0142PE).
Lower burden indicates better housing affordability.
10%
👥
Age Structure Score
Inverse of percentage population aged 65+ (DP05_0024PE).
Accounts for demographic diversity and working-age population ratio.
📖 Data Sources & Citations (APA Format)
All data sourced from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates,
table DP04: Selected Housing Characteristics [Data set]. Retrieved from https://data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates,
table DP05: ACS Demographic and Housing Estimates [Data set]. Retrieved from https://data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates,
table S1501: Educational Attainment [Data set]. Retrieved from https://data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates,
table S1901: Income in the Past 12 Months (in 2023 Inflation-Adjusted Dollars) [Data set].
Retrieved from https://data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau. (2024). American Community Survey 2019–2023 5-year estimates,
table S2301: Employment Status [Data set]. Retrieved from https://data.census.gov
U.S. Census Bureau. (2023). 2020 Census 5-digit ZIP Code Tabulation Area (ZCTA5) TIGER/Line Shapefile
[Shapefile]. Retrieved from https://www.census.gov/geographies/mapping-files/time-series/geo/tiger-line-file.html
Project Information: This dashboard was developed for the Computerization and Visualization
course at Northeastern University. The analysis employs advanced data science techniques including K-Means clustering,
min-max normalization, and interactive geospatial visualization. Technologies used: Python (Pandas, NumPy,
Scikit-learn, GeoPandas, Plotly), HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript, and D3.js.